[FAC] Alex Espinoza at The Respite by the River Thurs.

[Cindy Wathen]

THE RESPITE BY THE RIVER
Stories about the Central San Joaquin Valley

Presented by the San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation Trust
Sponsored by 90.7 KFSR - Full Spectrum Radio

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2008
Local author ALEX ESPINOZA/

/ Alex Espinoza is the author of STILL WATER SAINTS and an Assistant 
Professor of English at Fresno State. He was born in Tijuana, Mexico and 
raised in suburban Los Angeles. In high school and afterwards, he worked 
a series of retail jobs, selling everything from eggs and milk to used 
appliances, furniture, rock T-shirts, and body jewelry.  After 
graduating from the University of California-Riverside, he went on to 
earn an MFA from UC-Irvine. His fiction has appeared in several 
anthologies, and his essays have been published at Salon.com, in the New 
York Times Magazine, and as part of the Chicano Chapbook Series.  He is 
now an assistant professor of English at CSU-Fresno and is at work on 
his next novel.

***

*/Still Water Saints/* chronicles a year in the life of Agua Mansa, a 
suburban town east of Los Angeles and west of the desert, home to school 
teachers and construction workers, middle managers and accountants, 
shoplifting speed addicts and overweight grocery clerks, Elvis fans and 
Madonna impersonators, Mexican immigrants and Chicana muralists, 
long-distance truck drivers and punk-loving tattoo artists.  It's also 
home to the Botánica Oshún, and its owner Perla Portillo.  Perla has 
served the community for years, arming her clients with the tools to 
navigate all manner of crises, great and small.  But when a boy with an 
unknown past arrives in her store, Perla must confront her growing 
doubts about her place in the world. Interweaving Perla's story with 
those of her customers, the novel renders a vibrant tapestry of 
intersecting lives in California's rapidly-changing Inland Empire.
 
Called a "stunning debut" by /Los Angeles Magazine, /"elegantly crafted" 
by the Washington Post, and "the beginning of a distinguished career" by 
New West, */Still Water Saints /*was a selection of Barnes and Noble's 
"Discover Great New Writers" program in spring, 2007.   */Still Water 
Saints/* is also available in a Spanish-language edition as */Los santos 
de Agua Mansa, California/* (translated by Liliana Valenzuela).

***

*"Alex Espinoza's Still Water Saints is a cycle of tales as perfect as 
the beads of a rosary. One alone is a little miracle; the whole together 
is capable of renewing one's faith in new fiction." -- Sandra Cisneros
*
*"Espinoza ...brings a small southern California town to vivid and 
vibrant life in his magical debut. ... [He] is a refreshing new writer, 
and his first novel embeds itself indelibly into the reader's memory." 
-- Booklist
*
*"Through it all, hard and soft, Espinoza is unflinching, cool, 
unsentimental, ...incapable of false or flimsy storytelling. His style 
is ominous, layered and clean --- reminiscent of a Hieronymus Bosch 
painting. Still Water Saints is charming, yet its charm is an uneasy 
one. Its whimsy has teeth. And that is, absolutely, a compliment." -- 
The Los Angeles Times
*
*"This is an excellent novel." -- El Paso Times*

**********************************************
The Respite By The River -

6:00 PM - Bring a picnic dinner and enjoy live music

7:00 PM - Reading begins

8:00 PM - Meet the readers/book signing

The River Center is located at:
11605 Old Friant Road
3 miles northeast of Woodward Park

For more information call 433-3190, ext #4

<http://www.riverparkway.org>

OTHER UPCOMING RESPITE BY THE RIVER DATES:

Thursday October 23 - Local poet LEE HERRICK

MEDIA SPONSOR:

SAN JOAQUIN RIVER PARKWAY AND CONSERVATION TRUST
Celebrating 20 Years of Creating and Protecting the San Joaquin River 
Parkway for Everyone

90.7 KFSR - FULL SPECTRUM RADIO
Connecting the Valley's Creative Community

<http://www.csufresno.edu/kfsr/rivercenter.html>

<http://www.riverparkway.org>

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